[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Alert - Support self-determination for Western Sahara

[Al Kagan]

I thought I should provide some context on this.

The situation is Western Sahara is left over from the colonial 
period.  When Spain was finally chased out by guerilla movement, 
Morocco and Mauritania moved in and divided it up between them.  The 
guerillas defeated Mauritania, but Morocco then took the southern 
area.  The struggle still continues in the desert with Morocco 
defending the capital by building a wall around the city. Large 
numbers of refugees are in refugee camps in Algeria.

>Delivered-To: akagan at alexia.lis.uiuc.edu
>X-Sender: turshen/pop2.igc.org at pop3.norton.antivirus
>Date: Sat, 18 May 2002 12:30:39 -0400
>To: Meredeth Turshen <turshen at igc.org>
>From: Meredeth Turshen <turshen at igc.org>
>Subject: Alert - Support self-determination for Western Sahara
>Status:  
>
>Alert - Support self-determination for Western Sahara
>
>The Bush administration is pressuring members of the UN Security Council to
>impose the "Framework Agreement" on the people of Western Sahara.  Last
>month the U.S. circulated a draft resolution to members of the UN Security
>Council that would have imposed the Framework Accord on the people of
>Western Sahara.  The Framework Agreement, if adopted, would effectively
>give Morocco sovereignty over Western Sahara and deny the people of Western
>Sahara the right to self-determination.  The Framework
>Agreement would supercede the current UN settlement plan that includes a
>referendum to determine the will of the people of Western Sahara.  The
>Security Council did not vote on the U.S. draft resolution and on April
>30th extended the mandate of United Nations Mission for the Referendum in
>Western Sahara (MINURSO) for three months until 31 July 2002.  But the U.S.
>government is still working behind the scenes to get the Framework
>Agreement adopted before July.  If adopted as currently proposed, it would
>be forced by the UN on POLISARIO and the people of Western Sahara.
>
>Please contact your members of Congress and urge them to sign on the letter
>being circulated by Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ) and Congressman James
>Pitts (R-PA) in support of a self-determination referendum in Western
>Sahara.  Be sure to tell them that signatures are being coordinated by
>Charisse Glassman in Congressman Payne's office and Karin Finkler in
>Congressman Pitts's office. You can get the fax number of your
>Congressional representatives by going to www.google.com and searching for
>"Senator X" or "Representative X." 
>
>More information on the issue is available at www.richardknight.com.
>
>Meredeth Turshen, PhD
>Professor
>Rutgers University
>School of Planning and Public Policy
>33 Livingston Avenue
>New Brunswick, NJ 08903 USA
>tel: 732 932 4101 X681
>fax: 732 932 0934

-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu